Urban Systemic Initiatives (USI). The USI program addresses both the need for systemic change in science and mathematics education at the PreK-12 level and for enhanced productivity for groups that traditionally have been underserved by the national education system. In 1993, recognizing the critical problems facing major urban areas, NSF developed a program targeted at cities with the largest numbers of school children living in poverty. To date, NSF has invested approximately $110 million, impacting more than 145,000 teachers and 3,625,000 students in 20 cities. USI has generated changes in policy and resource utilization, and has improved instruction to ensure student performance gains. For example:

• The New York City USI supports the requirement that all students take 3 years each of rigorous mathematics and science courses. Recently, 5^th grade USI students outperformed non-USI students on the Performance Assessment in Mathematics: USI district scores increased over 11 percent, compared to only 3.6 percent in non-USI districts.
• The Chicago USI supports city policy to double science and mathematics requirements for high school graduation. In Chicago, student achievement gains for USI schools have increased for two consecutive years in grades 3 and 6; significantly more students have successfully completed Algebra before entering high school; and several hundred teachers have increased their science and mathematics credentials.

Comprehensive Partnerships for Mathematics and Science Achievement (CPMSA) Program. Established in 1992, the CPMSA Program provides comprehensive approaches to increasing achievement, enrollment, and successful course completion in science and mathematics for all students within participating high-poverty city school districts. The Program creates partnerships among educators, parents, community leaders, and industry to implement system-wide improvements for overcoming barriers to student learning. In 1996, nearly $13 million was invested in 18 school districts in 16 states to increase access and strengthen science and mathematics education for over 450,000 students. The success of the program has been exemplified in Chattanooga, Tennessee over the 1992-96 period. Rigorous changes in the city's mathematics curriculum provide a more challenging sequence of courses, attracting current enrollment of more than 90 percent of high school students in Algebra I or higher-level courses. The number of students taking chemistry has risen from 200 to more than 1,200 and the number taking physics more than doubled, from 105 to 280.

Instructional Materials Development (IMD) Program. NSF funds a new generation of instructional materials--designed to improve science and mathematics achievement of all students--that embody the rigor in content, instruction, and assessment standards needed to make our education system excel internationally. Since 1990, NSF has invested nearly $65 million in development of 12 mathematics curricula for grades K-12 that respond to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) standards. Developed by content specialists and science and mathematics educators, these curricula have been rigorously pilot- and field-tested and are beginning to be implemented nationwide. Focused on improving problem-solving, critical thinking skills, and cultural relevance, these curricula are also improving educational performance in disciplines such as English and social studies. For example, at the secondary level, Interactive Mathematics (IM) materials were successfully field-tested in Philadelphia. Based on comparisons of ninth grade students, who varied only with respect to mathematics curricula received, use of IM curricula materials over more traditional materials resulted in final grades approximately 20 points higher in mathematics, science, and social studies, and nearly 30 points higher in English. In addition, the enthusiasm generated by IM materials led to a 17-percent increase in classroom attendance.

Networking Infrastructure for Education (NIE). The NIE program connects a high-performance electronic communications infrastructure with science, mathematics, engineering, and technology education reform, and to lay a foundation for strategies in the appropriate use of technology to increase student achievement. Investing nearly $47 million to date, NIE has built partnerships of technology and education researchers, developers, and implementers. Prototypes already show great promise.

• One example of the program's success is the New Jersey (NJ-NIE) Project, a collaborative effort among the Stevens Institute of Technology, the New Jersey Statewide Systemic Initiative, multiple school districts, and other organizational and corporate sponsors to enhance the scale and impact of student learning of science and mathematics through applications of cutting edge technology and curriculum development. To date, the project has provided training to 1,800 teachers and school administrators and created a network of 9 community colleges to train school districts in the use of the Internet. In 1996, NJ-NIE expanded its impact to ensure full-text access to 350 journals and periodicals and produced a 10-week television series titled "NJ KnowledgeNet" that demonstrated the use of the Internet to 45,000 households.
• WhaleNet, in its first year in FY 1996, established collaborations with students, educators and researchers in all 50 states, 9 provinces in Canada and 28 countries. The project's homepage (http://whale.wheelock.edu) averages over 100,000 electronic visitors per day. The project has produced brochures and information packets for the K-12 audience; has been featured on two television shows; hosts an Annual WhaleNet Conference which attracts international scientists and educators; and was recently successful in tagging two blue whales in the Atlantic with satellite tracking devices. The whales can now be followed across the Atlantic on the WhaleNet web site by students and others in real-time.

NSF Collaboratives for Excellence in Teacher Preparation (CETP). Initiated in 1993, the CETP Program aims to reform preparation of future K-12 teachers of science, mathematics, engineering and technology. Forging partnerships among four-year colleges and universities, two-year colleges, school districts and informal performers (e.g., zoos, museums), these projects feature strong leadership by disciplinary and education departments involved in science and mathematics at higher education institutions, as well as PreK-12 teachers and administrators. Projects extend from high school student recruiting to undergraduate and graduate education to certification to early career services. By 1996, more than 47,000 students had enrolled in CETP-influenced courses. Currently, over 90 two- and four-year colleges and universities and 30 school districts participate in collaborative activities, involving over 2,000 university and college faculty and 1,500 K-12 teachers and administrators. Typical of successes achieved under the program is the Systemic Teacher Excellence Program (STEP) project in Montana. In 1996, the project's fourth year, five of six of the state's public four-year colleges and universities and all seven tribal colleges were participating in STEP. Over 40 courses have been revised; 30 model school sites designated; about 235 faculty and 435 K-12 teachers have been actively engaged in project activities; and 6,300 students have been enrolled in courses upgraded by STEP. The project works in alliance with other systemic projects in the state and has attracted over $1,000,000 in non-NSF funds.

Research Training Groups (RTGs). Since 1989, NSF has sponsored 23 integrated multidisciplinary, training programs through its biological sciences Research Training Groups (RTGs) program, for a total investment of approximately $40 million. The goal has been to facilitate broadened education and research training centered on a multidisciplinary research theme. RTGs include faculty from disciplines such as mathematics, chemistry and computer science in addition to the biological sciences, and students from undergraduate through postdoctoral levels. Opportunities for industrial internships are included as part of the training.

Principal Investigators at the University of Arizona's RTG in the Analysis of Biological Diversification have developed a remarkable tool for dissemination of information about the diversity of life on earth, for students, educators, and researchers. The Web-based "Tree of Life" site, under construction with help of undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students supported by this RTG and 120 colleagues around the world, explores the interconnections of plants, animals, and microbes, with photographs, text, and references, organized in the form of a genealogical tree. The site, http://phylogeny.arizona.edu/tree/phylogeny.html, is accessed about 20,000 times per month.

The success of the RTG model has led to an NSF experimental thrust in FY 1998, Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training program, built upon activities of both the RTGs and the Graduate Research Traineeships programs.

Examples of projects which integrate research and education include:

Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU). The REU program provides opportunities for undergraduate students to experience hands-on participation in research or related scholarly activities in areas of science, mathematics, and engineering. NSF supports researchers who involve students in either ongoing research (REU supplements) or special programs (REU sites). NSF's investment in FY 1996 was approximately $30 million and supported nearly 300 sites across all 50 states. Several sites' programs involve undergraduate students in research experiences for two months during the summer. These structured programs have been quite successful in providing opportunities to women and underrepresented minorities, and report enrollments in these areas that significantly exceed their numbers in the research communities themselves.

An REU Site at the Whitney Marine Laboratory of the University of Florida has been active in forming linkages with the State of Florida through their High School Teacher Quest enhancement program. Dr. Barbara-Anne Battelle, who directs the site and conducts important research on the biochemistry of vision, has encouraged high school and community college biology teachers from public schools to come to the Whitney Lab during the summer to get "hands-on" experience with scientific research. The teachers return to their schools prepared to incorporate new laboratory experiments into the curriculum, and with a new appreciation of the science they teach. One teacher who participated in this experience is now the lead biology teacher at the local high school; another obtained Masters-level credit for his work and has used the experience to develop basic lectures in molecular biology for advanced high school students and undergraduates.

Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science (SOARS). The SOARS program is a five year program begun in FY 1996 with the goal of bringing ethnically diverse students into careers in the atmospheric and related sciences, including engineering, mathematics and social sciences. The program is managed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), with assistance from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). Annually, about a dozen undergraduate and graduate students complete ten week summer programs at UCAR/NCAR working with mentors on real-world scientific projects. Each program is tailored to the SOARS students' and mentors' scientific interests. Research topics range across all scientific activities represented at NCAR, from atmospheric chemistry to climate modeling, as well as use of instrumentation.

Particle Technology in Manufacturing Processes. Powders or particles are used in virtually every phase of our modern life and particle products account for approximately one trillion dollars annually in the U.S. economy. For example, powders are used to make pharmaceutical products, cosmetics, ceramic floor tiles, ceramic plumbing fixtures, rocket nozzles and heat shields for spacecraft, chemicals, fertilizers, pesticides, paint pigments, and toners for printing and copying machines. In order to manufacture powders or powder-based products, it is necessary to understand how particles cling to themselves and other things, how they flow or mix, and how they compact into solid shapes. U.S. manufacturing companies need an adequate supply of graduate engineers and scientists with expertise in particle technology to remain competitive in the world economy.

Most of the traditional scientific and engineering disciplines are involved in studying powders. Yet there is no single place in university-based education and research for particle technology. A Combined Research and Curriculum Development (CRCD) award to the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) is establishing undergraduate and graduate courses that will expose every chemical and mechanical engineering undergraduate to particle technology. As part of this award, the NJIT has established a Particle Technology Center which is collaborating with other academic institutions including the University of Florida (through its NSF Engineering Research Center for Particle Science and Technology) and with industrial sponsors such as Dow, Dupont, Exxon, and Merck. NJIT also recently received an R&D Excellence Award from the State of New Jersey to establish a Particle Processing Research Center in collaboration with Rutgers University.

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